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FBG Elections 2013

Wed, 10/06/2010 - 21:00 — Anonymous

Dear Members of the Footwear Biomechanics Group,

This is the call for votes for our Footwear Biomechanics Group elections 2013. At this time we will have elections for the president-elect and for the student representative only. Due to the suggested new constitution and codes for our group, which will be discussed during the meeting in Natal, elections for potential other positions will be voted for thereafter. At this time each person who is a FBG member in good standing (everybody who receives this e-mail is) is entitled to vote for:

  • One out of two candidates for president-elect, our president elect candidates are: Mark Lake, Wolfgang Potthast
  • One out of two candidates for student representative, our student representative candidates are: Jennifer Baltich, Rami Hashish

Please find below information about the candidates for the FBG elections 2013. Candidates are listed in alphabetical order of the last name. 

Please note that voters must provide their votes by e-mail to Thorsten Sterzing (thorsten@li-ning.com.cn) AND to Jay Worobets (worobets@kin.ucalgary.ca) by the same e-mail. You may simply press “reply to all” when providing your votes as Jay Worobets is cced on this e-mail. This procedure allows us to double-check on the vote count later on. Please put "FBG Elections 2013 - Vote" in the subject header of your e-mail. I will provide a brief confirmation of reception to everybody providing his/her votes. The voting period will end on and including Friday, 31.05.2013, after that no votes can be accepted.

Thank you very much for your participation! We really appreciate you taking these few minutes time to provide us with your votes!

Best wishes to all of you,

Thorsten

 

 

Mark Lake
Chairperson-Elect candidate

Mark Lake has been a member of the International Footwear Biomechanics group since it was established in the mid 90’s and was a past secretary general. In the early meetings he twice won the new investigator award. His academic training began in England (Loughborough University) before going on to do his Master’s in Human locomotion studies at Penn State University, U.S.A (1991) and then completed his doctorate in Biophysics at the University of Guelph, Canada in 1995. As a Chairperson he would like to further develop possible work experiences for young researchers in footwear biomechanics by expanding sponsorship, travel and internship opportunities within the industry.

 

 

 

Wolfgang Potthast
Chairperson-Elect candidate

Wolfgang Potthast has undergraduate degrees in Physics from the University of Cologne and Sport Sciences from the German Sport University Cologne. He received his PhD in Sport Sciences from the German Sport University in 2005. After working as a senior researcher in the Institute of Biomechanics and Orthopaedics at the German Sport University, Wolfgang moved to the Department of Sport and Sport Sciences at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in 2010, where he held a professorship for Movement Science and Biomechanics. In August 2012 Wolfgang accepted the position of professor in Clinical Biomechanics at the German Sport University Cologne. His research focuses mainly on loading and loading response of the human musculo-skeletal system. His major research focus is the interaction between the musculo-skeletal system and technology in sports and clinically relevant research questions. Consequently Wolfgang worked, works and will work in a lot of research topics related to functional footwear. At present he is becoming increasingly involved in large interdisciplinary research projects. Wolfgang has more than 100 publications and papers in scientific congresses. He served from 2008 to 2010 as a member of the Executive Board of the Footwear Biomechanics Group (FBG), is a director of the International Society of Biomechanics in Sports (ISBS) since 2008 and works as Vice President for Public Relations since 2010 for that society. He earned the Nike basic research award of the FBG in 2005, the New Investigator Award of the ISBS in 2005 and the novel award in 2006.

As a president of the Footwear Biomechanics Group, Wolfgang would continue the worthwhile and important work of optimizing the constitution and the codes of the FBG, which has already been initiated by the former presidents. An increase in the number of members and a strengthening of the significance of the journal would be of paramount importance. His vision would be that high quality basic research related to the interaction of footwear and the neuro-muscular-skeletal system would be translated and applied in products. Therefore Wolfgang would try to stimulate researchers from different disciplines to cooperate. He would try to find or create platforms for or within the FBG, where interdisciplinary and translational research would be established or supported.

 

 

 

Jennifer Baltich
Student Representative Candidate

I earned my Bachelor of Science degree in Biological and Agricultural Engineering from the University of California Davis and my Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Michigan. During my third year of undergraduate studies, I had the privilege of studying abroad at the University of Queensland in Australia. Throughout my studies, I have had the opportunity to learn from some of the most respected international leaders in the field of biomechanics. Following the completion of my Master’s degree, I worked for Dr. Benno Nigg as a Biomechanics Research Technician for Biomechanigg Research Inc. (BRI) at the University of Calgary. During my two years as a technician I completed ten industry-sponsored projects, seven of which were related to the biomechanical effects of footwear. I was also responsible for the training of 11 new team members, including undergraduate interns, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and full-time employees. I then decided to begin my doctoral studies under the supervision of Dr. Nigg where my thesis work focuses on the biomechanical effects of exercise training and the potential for reducing the incidence of injury in novice runners. Throughout my PhD studies I have continued to be involved in footwear research with BRI where my most recent project investigated the effects of shoe midsole cushioning on dynamic joint stiffness and vertical force impact peaks during running.

As the elected Communications Officer for the Kinesiology Graduate Student Association, and as a current student conducting interdisciplinary research with epidemiologists and biomechanists, I feel that communication and collaboration are a necessity in the research realm. Additionally, it is of the utmost importance to bridge the gap between the conducted research and the communities where it has the potential to make the most impact.

As a member of the Footwear Biomechanics Group, I would like to utilize the advances in social media in order to further develop the opportunities for students to communicate and collaborate with leading experts in the field of footwear research, as well as promote communication between the researchers and the local community in order to improve knowledge translation.

 

 

 

Rami Hashish
Student Representative Candidate

Experience as a practicing physical therapist helped to develop my interest in running dynamics and the influence of footwear on lower-extremity injury. As part of my dissertation, I am examining foot-ground interactions, as well as biomechanical and physiological measures of injury and performance when habitually shod runners transition to barefoot running. Information gained from my research will help to optimize running footwear and contribute to the prevention of running injuries and the development of treatment programs.

As a PhD Candidate, I have demonstrated a high level of productivity, authoring 17 abstracts and 3 publications, with an additional 2 (primary-author) manuscripts in-review. Furthermore, I have performed product testing for footwear manufacturers, and have contributed to the scientific process by serving as a reviewer for Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. In addition, I have attempted to describe the scientific relations between footwear and running as a Contributing Writer to The Running Times and The Huffington Post.

For the past two years I have been honored to serve as the Student Representative to the Footwear Biomechanics Group (FBG); a role which I hope to continue in the future. I am particularly excited by the recent changes in the FBG constitution and the more clearly defined roles of the Executive Board. It is my goal, if elected, to increase exposure of FBG to the student population in order to increase membership and thereby develop a more robust group and academic atmosphere. Furthermore, I intend to collaborate with fellow board members in order to develop forums (online, as well as at conference proceedings) that will stimulate discussion and collaboration between students, faculty, and industry personnel.